Autodesk, Design, Technology and more blog.

31 posts categorized "Autodesk Research"

27 June 2019

My colleague Kean Walmsley announced on his blog Through the Interface on the new Project Discover for Dynamo out of Autodesk Research and is ready to be tested. It is a tool that we used to perform generative design in the AEC design for our Autodesk Toronto office including predicting the natural light rays into offices to assist in office location based on employee preferences (video Generative Design for Architecture: Autodesk MaRS Office). Read Kean’s overview in his blog post...
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11 June 2019

A great story of smart young minds tackling a challenge put forth by NASA helped AI SpaceFactory Win NASA’s 3D-Printed Habitat Challenge for additive constructed habitats. NASA awarded AI SpaceFactory $500,000 for the successful construction of a 15 foot Mars habitat with three windows named MARSHA.
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08 May 2019

Autodesk is hosting an immersive event in Toronto to help students and professionals acquire expertise in state-of-the-art AI methods and techniques. autode.sk/2PUKipw Artificial Intelligence (AI) for Engineering Summer School 2019, hosted by Autodesk, is a two-week event that brings together a talented group of engineering graduate students and industry professionals to acquire expertise in state-of-the-art AI methods and techniques, with the focus on deep learning and reinforcement learning. While there has been a significant resurgence of AI technologies, other scientific...
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27 February 2019

Kean Walmsley from our Autodesk Research Team wrote a great blog post on space analysis using Dynamo and Refinery. “For Project Discover we used 2D space analysis to calculate various metrics that scored the individual layouts: Adjacency Buzz Productivity Views to outside Daylight The first two are largely about calculating paths between various locations, while the last three are implemented by ray-casting. These approaches are definitely connected, though: you need to specify boundaries (and barriers) that the various algorithms will...
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04 February 2019

Former Autodesk Research Employee Jos Stam was awarded an Academy Award by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences for 3D subdivision surfaces among other technical giants such as Edwin Catmul of Disney / Pixar and brothers Thomas Knoll and John Knoll of ILM and co-creator of Adobe Photoshop. Jos is now a researcher at NVidia. “To Edwin Catmull for the original concept, and to Tony DeRose and Jos Stam for their pioneering advancement of the underlying science of...
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04 January 2019

There is great article just published on possible ways LA could lead the way in hosting the 2028 Olympics and provide the model for future host cities to have less negative impact short and long term. “So what if LA could solve its existing infrastructure issues and become a test case for post-Olympic civic success?” https://www.autodesk.com/redshift/olympic-infrastructure/
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05 December 2018

At Autodesk have used our generative design for architecture and layout to design our MaRS office in Toronto and an intelligent flow and layout for Autodesk University, now we are making it available as a beta publicly for you to try it and provide your requests and feedback. “Project Refinery is an Autodesk generative design beta for the architecture, engineering and construction industry that gives users the power to quickly explore and optimize their Dynamo designs. Project Refinery not only...
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19 November 2018

Spotted this from my Toronto Research colleague Hali Larsen @HaliLarsen this morning: Have an innovative project in mind that you are trying to get off the ground? In need of support for hardware, software, or fabrication? Apply to the Residency Program at Autodesk Toronto! https://startupheretoronto.com/type/startup-news/autodesk-technology-centre-in-toronto-accepting-residency-applications/ “The Toronto centre – one of four Autodesk Technology Centres in the world – supports a range of activities related to machine learning, generative design, robotics, artificial intelligence, and more. The centre provides facilities, technology,...
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31 October 2018

Automation Helps People Live and Work Better “Humanity inevitably needs, desires, and demands more. At the same time, it must also confront the reality of less—fewer natural resources, less space, and fewer skilled construction and manufacturing workers than the world needs.” “Automation also helps companies stay ahead of their competitors, but more important, it encourages and supports the imagination that moves humanity forward. Better cities, better buildings, better things, better work: Reimagining the model for automation can balance the inevitability...
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26 September 2018

The acronym of my Autodesk division, Office of the CTO “OCTO” was the complex shape inspiration for an octopus named Olly. Olly was created by additive 3D printing metal and then subtractively machining it. Both methods of additive and subtractive were achieved using Autodesk’s advanced Powermill product. Read More about Olly http://www.manufacturinglounge.com/eight-arms-are-better-than-one/ I would love to someday have an Olly on my desk. -Shaan
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31 August 2018

You can use Autodesk’s generative design technology in Fusion 360 today to assist you in the design process. You will be assisted in finding design options beyond just shape and material optimization as you can consider strength, cost, and materials. We looked at a design inspired by the famous Elbo chair using generative design. Generative design came up with a design that resulted in 18% less material and 78% stress reduction as well as looking amazing in Fusion 360- and...
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28 March 2018

The Autodesk Robotics Lab excited to announce the release of Mimic, an open-source Autodesk Maya plugin for controlling Industrial Robots. Mimic is a free and open-source plugin for Autodesk Maya that enables simulation, programming, and control of 6-axis, Industrial Robots. It provides a robust and intuitive, animation-based toolset, allowing creators to prototype, validate, and drive automated systems. The team works on a lot of experimental robotics projects, writing many of their own software tools from scratch.They found out that they...
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27 June 2017

See how Stanley Black & Decker’s Breakthrough Innovation Group used generative design and additive manufacturing technologies in a pilot project to lightweight its crimping tool attachment part. The Power of Generative Design is coming to Autodesk Netfabb 2018 “The resulting generative design may look a bit unusual to some, but it reduced the hydraulic crimping attachment weight by just over 3lbs, or 60%. The simulations that were run concurrently showed that the tool maintained the strength characteristics of the original...
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21 June 2017

Autodesk used Generative Design to define the optimal workspace in one of our offices. In the future we see design taking in the employee and organizational preferences in the office neighborhoods. Make sure those that work frequently together are located in close proximity, employees that like the sunny exposure are seated in sunny portions of the office, and the employees that prefer a quiet space are in planned quiet area neighborhoods of the office. Think of it like the design...
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24 March 2017

Autodesk colleague Tom Wujec gave a popular TED presentation in 2010 about team building and a Marshmallow Challenge that has received over 3.5 million views. The Marshmallow Challenge is a great team building exercise that involves dry spaghetti, one yard of tape and a marshmallow. In the past few years I have seen 20-30’ish inch towers created and heard of ones a little higher and some a little lower but Tom received an email from Mike Barron with a photo of an impressive tower. The tower created stands 55 inches in an office cubicle. This is the largest tower ever seen with photographic evidence.
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21 March 2017

My Autodesk colleage Maurice Conti Director, Applied Research and Innovation in the Office of the CTO was just featured in a Bloomberg Technology video piece talking about robots. Maurice and team have been researching solutions to solve the challenge of robots and humans getting along. Part of the solution is to give the robots sight allowing them to work and coexist with us and not to crush us to a pulp which they can do rather easily. “The classic industrial...
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10 January 2017

Wired has just ranked the Autodesk Elbo Chair third on its list of “The Most Innovative Objects of 2016”. Last summer, my teammate Arthur Harsuvanakit and Autodesk intern Brittany Presten set out to use a chair as a design space for Project Dreamcatcher, working with the software to generate solutions that were feasible and sensible to fabricate using wood as the material and a CNC router for fabrication. This is what we do in the Office of the CTO “OCTO”.
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29 November 2016

Great article on Hack Rod by Drew Turney on Redshift. “Do you have a great idea for a new product but don’t have a fully equipped manufacturing plant to realize it? Thanks to a pair of California hot-rod enthusiasts, the whole manufacturing workflow—from conception to assembly—might someday be within your grasp.” http://bit.ly/2gGpS0u
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22 November 2016

YouTube star Tom Scott recently visited our Autodesk Pier 9 to meet with my colleagues Maurice Conti, Heather Kerrick, and Evan Atherton in the Applied Research Lab to discuss robots. Big robotic colleagues Bishop and Ash make cameos appearances. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y9pknU0zv9c At Autodesk's Pier 9 workshop in San Francisco there are giant robot arms using welders to 3D print with stainless steel. Which seemed like a good place to talk about programming abstractions, high-level languages, training pendants, and just how safe...
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25 October 2016

This is a really great video featuring my Autodesk colleague and team mate Maurice Conti, Director of Applied Research and Innovation providing a glimpse at how robots will augment and collaborate with humans in the future. A couple other team mates gave a cameo in the video like Evan “Robot Lover” Atherton, Heather “Robot Tamer” Kerrick, and David “Robot Whisperer” Thomas.
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03 October 2016

Learn about AR, VR and MR and the impact it will make for all of us from Autodesk Brian Pene Director of Emerging Technology, Office of the CTO. Five Ways AR and VR Will Improve Our Current Reality http://autode.sk/28WjqhN In recent years, technological advances, coupled with a proliferation of affordable hardware and software, have made immersive technologies like augmented reality (AR), virtual reality (VR) and mixed reality (MR) more commercially feasible than ever. A flood of investments into these new...
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21 September 2016

Max Moruzzi is the senior principal research scientist in our Autodesk Research and has authored an article for Techcrunch on how smart materials will change and reshape the world for better through design. This is another remarkable glimpse at the Future of Making Things. How Smart Materials Will Literally Reshape the World Around Us tps://techcrunch.com/2016/09/17/how-smart-materials-will-literally-reshape-the-world-around-us/ “The IoT may well be The Next Big Thing, but maybe the attention around sensors is misplaced… What if we didn’t even need embedded sensors...
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19 September 2016

Andrew Hessel of Autodesk's Bio/Nano Research Group within Autodesk Office of the CTO recently held a very thought provoking Reddit Ask Me Anything session. Andrew if you have not met him, is a very unique and brilliant researcher in his field and here at Autodesk working on big issues that truly impact our world like finding technology processes to cure cancer, disease,and other big challenges faces us as a species. He refers to the brain as nothing more than a...
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13 September 2016

The robots are coming and they are not all evil but will help us make things and augment our capabilities at solving other challenges facing the world. Maurice Conti Director, Applied Research and Innovation, in the Autodesk Office of the CTO and colleague was interviewed by the Institution of Mechanical Engineers for a nice article on robotics and the research Autodesk is doing in the Applied Research Lab. Human Augmentation: the Next Phase in Robotics http://www.imeche.org/news/news-article/human-augmentation-the-next-phase-in-robotics Prominent, respected public figures...
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16 July 2016

I was surprised when the computer using Autodesk’s generative design technology Dreamcatcher mimicked nature’s optimal designs. When we were researching the next evolution in design, we found that computers could iterate design options for strength, material usage, and cost for an engineer and designer faster than the the engineer or designer alone. We ran a design on a quad rotor UAV and generative design software returned what was almost identical in form to that of a flying squirrel. To me...
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